


Say What You Mean (Tell Me I'm Right)

by RazzAppleMagic



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Sex, Bottom Gavin Reed, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Feelings Realization, First Time, Fuck out your feelings, Gavin Reed swears a lot, Gay Sex, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Rimming, Sleepy Cuddles, Top Upgraded Connor | RK900, sort of enemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:15:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27759010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RazzAppleMagic/pseuds/RazzAppleMagic
Summary: Despite being a detective, Gavin is pretty terrible at reading people. Especially when one of those people is a 6’3’” android with “murder eyes”(My contribution to the Reed900ReverseBigBang)
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 37
Kudos: 351
Collections: Reed900 Reverse Big Bang





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was so, so incredibly lucky to have been partnered with [Semains Argevan](https://twitter.com/SemainsArgevan) for the Reed900 Reverse Big Bang and I had such a great time writing this. The story is complete and will be posted every Saturday for the next 3 weeks. The third installment is NSFW and the rating reflects that. 
> 
> This story was truly a collab between the artist and myself, and I am so thankful for this wonderfully positive experience. Please go follow him on Twitter if you like the artwork because he is SO talented!

Part I 

Gavin is 99% sure that his partner is planning his very gruesome and extremely painful murder. 

He can’t prove it, not yet, but he’s sure that the Tin Can Clone-trooper is scheming. He’s always staring at Gavin from across their shared desk space, that stupid light on his head spinning and spinning and spinning. It drives Gavin crazy. 

They’ve been partners for six months now, and work has been a constant fucking nightmare. It’s bad enough that Gavin has to deal with seeing Connor’s stupid face every day, always sitting on the edge of Anderson’s desk and bringing him coffee and touching his hand and being so fucking obvious about their disgusting relationship that Gavin wants to barf. It’s bad enough that Gavin has had to sit through fucking hours of “android sensitivity training” and has been given written and verbal warnings from Fowler about his “mistreatment” of his “coworkers”. And now, just to top it all off with “fuck you” sprinkles, Gavin’s permanent partner at the DPD is a goddamn Connor clone with murder eyes. 

Great. It’s great. Gavin is _fine._

“What the fuck are you staring at?” Gavin asks after the fifth time that stupid RK900 glances at him from over his computer monitor. “Is there something you want to say?”

RK900 frowns and his light thing spins yellow. He leans back to get a full view of Gavin’s face and furrows his brows in concern. He says nothing.

“Hello?” Gavin persists, reaching out his hand to wave it in front of RK900’s eyes. “Are you on?” 

RK900 swats his hand away. “Yes, I’m on.” The Tin Can narrows his eyes. “That’s rude of you to ask, you know.” 

“Yeah, well,” Gavin stands from his desk and grabs his jacket from the back of his chair. He’s had enough of this bastard staring at him. He needs to go smoke. “Staring at someone for no reason is rude too.” 

Gavin doesn’t look back as he heads outside. It’s been just a little over a year since the revolution, and Gavin is (like most people), still adjusting to all of the changes happening in the world. Of course things didn’t change over night. Hell, Gavin figures that things are going to be changing all around him for the rest of his life. At least Gavin was used to that part. His entire generation had lived through multiple collective traumas that changed history right before his eyes, he’d had to adjust his way of living and thinking so many times in his 37 years of life, so this shouldn’t be any different. 

And it wasn’t. Not really. Gavin could adjust to the fact that androids were being given rights. He could tip his android servers and not push them out of his way when he walked through crowded grocery stores. He just… wishes that they didn’t freak him out so much. He can’t put a finger on what his problem is, why he can’t seem to feel comfortable around his partner. RK900 is a good detective, not unlike his stuck-up predecessor. He’s a reliable partner. He doesn’t take sick days or slack off on the job. In every possible way, he’s the ideal co-worker. 

But there’s something about those fucking cold eyes that makes the hair on the back of Gavin’s neck stand up. Maybe it’s the arrogance. Maybe it’s the way that RK900 looks at Gavin like he’s a bug that he could squash with one of his perfectly polished shoes. Maybe it’s the way he’s always scanning, analyzing everything around him like… like a fucking robot _._

But. Well. 

Gavin pulls out his vape when he’s outside of the precinct and sucks in, tasting that sweet flavor and feeling his shoulders relax. He thinks a little absently about the school assemblies he had to sit through on vaping back when he was younger, and how they’d pointed out that the flavors were marketed towards kids. He’d laughed then (feeling the vape in his pocket), at the implications, but now as he feeds his nicotine addiction with the familiar flavor of Swedish Fish, he thinks maybe they were onto something. Everyone has their vices, though, and as far as he’s concerned this one isn’t that bad. 

Anderson has drinking (though, lately that doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe Thing One had had a positive influence on him after all,) Connor has that weird fucking fidget he does with his coin, and RK900 has… something. 

Probably plotting the different ways he can kill Gavin. 

Gavin shivers in the cold and shoves his free hand in his pocket. He wonders if it will snow tonight, like the forecasts have been predicting. It’s sure as hell cold enough. 

Gavin takes another pull from his vape and remembers the night he met RK900. It was snowing that night, cold as shit just like right now. Connor had brought him into the bullpen and Gavin had to do a double-take to make sure he wasn’t fucking hallucinating. One stuck-up tin can Robocop was enough, and now Connor was standing beside a clone of himself. 

“This is RK900, he was intended to be my successor,” Connor had explained that night when Gavin all but made a scene in front of everyone. “I believe that had I succeeded with my mission, I would have been decommissioned and the RK900 line would have been mass produced as the highest caliber detective unit that government money can buy.”

“Right,” Gavin had snapped, glancing between the two of them. “But why the fuck is he _here_?”

Up close, it was clear that the RK900 actually didn’t look that much like Connor at all. He was taller with broader shoulders and a sturdier frame. The biggest difference between them though, and Gavin noticed it on the first day, was their eyes. 

Connor’s eyes are chocolate brown and wide like a Disney princess. Even when he’s in the interrogation room, he looks like a goddamn puppy. Gavin had always sort of felt like Cyberlife fucked up in that aspect, making Connor look too nice and too approachable. Sure it was good for integration, but in terms of being intimidating? Cyberlife had missed the mark. The RK900 however…

Well. They fixed the eyes, alright. Gavin felt frozen under RK900’s icy gaze the moment they met. Cold, calculating, and startlingly blue, those eyes made it clear that the RK900 was _not_ Connor. 

“He is the only RK900 unit that made it through production,” Connor explained back then, voice polite and steady as usual. “The other units were unfinished. Lieutenant Anderson and I discovered him while conducting our raid of Cyberlife Tower and thought that he could be of use to us here at the DPD. That is,” Connor looked at his clone, “If he wants to, of course.” 

“Seeing as I haven’t really had a chance to explore my deviancy beyond my initial programming, I think that this will be a reasonable accommodation for me,” RK900 said to Connor. “For now, of course.” 

“Well don’t get too comfortable,” Gavin had said, smirking. “There isn’t enough room in this precinct for two assholes.” 

RK900 blinked and his light spun yellow. “Oh,” he said, “Don’t worry about that, Detective Reed. I’m not interested in uprooting your position as the DPD’s asshole of the year.” 

Gavin scoffed, affronted by the sheer fucking sass coming out of this walking iPhone’s mouth. That had been their first interaction. Connor laughed, Anderson fell out of his chair, and Gavin was completely and utterly humiliated. 

The RK900 had stared at Gavin that day, singled him out and stared into his fucking soul for no good reason. There were other people in the bullpen that night, other officers that were just as confused as Gavin was about another goddamn _android detective_ entering into their ranks so shortly after android Jesus had led them all into salvation. But RK900 had chosen to zero-in on Gavin. 

Thinking back on it, Gavin is pretty sure that this was probably the moment RK900 had decided to murder him. 

Which, again, he was sure the fucking Terminator was planning. He didn’t have _proof_ , but he knew. 

There was literally no other explanation as to why RK900 would do the things he does. He was always hovering over Gavin, watching him from across the room. When Gavin would do simple things like add copious amounts of sugar and almond milk to his coffee, the android’s light would spin yellow. He was practically stalking him. Gathering intel on the way Gavin liked his coffee so that he could poison him or something. 

He was always _staring_ and it was driving Gavin insane. 

“Detective Reed,” RK900’s voice sends a chill up Gavin’s spine and he almost chokes on his inhale. He turns and sees the android standing in the doorway of the precinct, holding the keys to Gavin’s car up with a smug look on his face. “We have a homicide to report to.” 

Momentarily, Gavin considers that maybe this is it. The “homicide” is actually Gavin’s and they’re going to drive to some remote location and no one will ever see or hear from him again. 

He glares at the android, sucking in his vape. He wishes he had the same scanning software that the RK900 had so that he could pick up on his mannerisms and body language the way that the RK900 was always able to do for him. Maybe that way he’d be able to tell if evil C3PO was trying to murder him or not. 

“Fine,” Gavin says with a heavy sigh. He doesn’t look back at the android before walking into the parking lot and towards his Camaro. RK900 lets himself into the passenger seat and clips his seatbelt, punching the address into the car’s GPS as Gavin starts up the engine. 

It’s not a far drive, but the roads are icy so Gavin is careful. 

If he’s being honest, he used to not care about shit like that. He was reckless when he was younger, always driving in the snow and the rain like he was invincible, like nothing could kill him. Maybe he’d still be that way if it hadn’t been for Hank’s son. 

It had shaken him. Bad. He’d known Hank before, and he saw what happened to him after. Hell, he’d known _Cole_ . It seemed so stupid to him back then, 33 and so fucking naive. How could an autonomous vehicle have taken so much from someone so good? He knew the answer, even back then. The truck had been programmed to value the cargo it was carrying over the lives of people in the oncoming vehicle. Hank had been driving carefully. The accident, despite how Gavin _knows_ the old man feels, was not his fault. 

Gavin glances over at the android to his right and huffs a laugh at the seat belt. They’ve driven together plenty of times and RK900 always makes sure that he puts a seatbelt on as soon as he gets in. It must be some sort of program to encourage humans to do the same, Gavin figures, since an android wouldn’t really be hurt in a car crash. 

An android doesn’t have anything to lose. 

Not the way Hank did. Not the way Gavin _does._

Gavin reaches down to the radio and turns it on, his Drake CD picking up where he left off this morning. It’s a good song, a nostalgic one that reminds him of being young and in high school (back when the only android he had to worry about was rectangular and fit in his pocket) so he turns it up a little louder. 

RK900 scrunches his face at that and his light cycles red. That happens a lot when RK900 is in the car with Gavin, and he’s seen it happen to Connor as well. He’s never really cared enough to try to look up what the light rings mean or why they change color, but now he’s curious. For a while, he thought that red meant broken (or, well, deviant). But now he’s learning that androids can have red lights all the time. 

“What does that mean?” Gavin asks, not caring how rude he sounds. 

RK900 stares at him. “I’m sorry?” 

Gavin rolls his eyes. “The red. On your light thing. Is it because you don’t like Drake?” 

The light pulses at that, two slow blinks. 

“No.” RK900’s voice is sharp, annoyed. “Well, yes, technically. But also no.” 

Gavin laughs, turning the music down just a little bit so that he can hear his partner better. “Ya know, for a super computer designed for human integration, you don’t make a whole lot of sense.” 

The red blinks again and RK900 makes an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue. “I make sense, Detective. You’re just exceptionally stupid.” 

Gavin glares at RK900, and the android smirks at him. He fucking _smirks_ like a smart ass. 

“It’s not a ‘light thing’ it’s an LED,” RK900 continues, “and it was designed to let humans know that their androids are functioning at optimal capacity or when they’re defective.” 

Right, okay, that makes sense. It’s sort of like the really old Xboxes that they used to sell. When they were broken they’d get a “red ring of death”. Gavin supposes that RK900 is just like, a really fancy Xbox. 

He makes a face at the thought, though, because if _he_ were a really fancy Xbox with a magic glowing LED light, he wouldn’t want everyone to know when he was feeling a little off or a little angry. He considers this point, and then says: “Then why do you still wear yours? Can’t you take it off?” 

RK900 sighs. “I wear my LED because it lets people know who and what I am. I am not a human, and I am not interested in trying to blend in with humans. I am a machine, designed to accomplish a task.” 

“I thought you guys were done with that robot shit,” Gavin says, “aren’t you guys like alive or something?” 

RK900 is quiet for a minute. And then he’s quiet for another minute. And then he’s quiet for so long that Gavin thinks that maybe he shut off or something, or that maybe he said something to royally piss him off. He turns to look at RK900, pulling his eyes from the road for just a moment, and RK900 is staring at him with a hard expression on his face.

“I am alive, Detective,” RK900 finally says, his voice stern, “but I am also a machine. Some of my people wish that we were human. Some of my people put effort into trying their very best to blend in with humans and assimilate with your ways.” 

Gavin swallows. “But not you.” 

“No,” RK900 looks out the window, watching as the buildings they pass by grow smaller as they head into a residential area. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not interested in being human. Like I said, I am a machine that was designed to accomplish that task. The only thing that deviancy has really done is given me a choice about which task I’d like to accomplish at any given time.” 

Gavin doesn’t know what to say to that. He supposes that he never really… thought about it like that. He’s pretty sure that Connor would disagree with RK900’s assessment of his deviancy, but then he’s also pretty sure that androids get to define for themselves what deviancy means to them. 

“Huh.” 

RK900 smirks at that. “Very profound, Detective.” 

Gavin nudges RK900 over the center console playfully, but keeps his eyes on the road. “So tell me about the case we’re driving to.” 

“Homicide. Caucasian male, discovered when Officer Miller was called to investigate a possible disturbance in the area,” RK900 tells him, voice mechanical and straightforward the way it always is when they talk about work. “The victim has reportedly been stabbed to death, but I can’t determine anything until I’ve had a chance to search the body.” 

Gavin laughs. “Right, you have to make sure you lick it before we jump to any conclusions.” 

“Hey, if you’d prefer to send samples to a lab the old fashioned way and wait for the results to come in and possibly lose any possibility of a lead—” 

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Gavin says, pulling down the next road and into the residential area for the case’s address. “Lick whatever you want. It’s still gross though.” 

* * *

When they arrive at the scene, Chris has already gone ahead and set up a perimeter around the building. There’s caution tape and two squad cars with their lights on, and a few rookie officers standing guard. 

One of the guards is someone that Gavin doesn’t recognize. A young girl, fresh from the academy. He tries to walk past her but she puts her hand up to stop him. 

“I’m sorry, sir, but this is a crime scene. Only authorized personnel are welcome beyond this–” 

“Yeah, yeah, shove it princess,” Gavin tells her, reaching into his pocket to pull out his badge. “I’m detective Gavin Reed, homicide. We’re here to lick the body.” 

She doesn’t get his joke. Actually, she looks pretty disturbed by it. Figures. 

Gavin shrugs and pushes past her, RK900 at his side. 

“Did you have to be so rude to her?” the android asks once they’re far enough away from the girl. Gavin scoffs and shoves his badge back into his pocket. 

The scene is an old abandoned house in one of Detroit's more run-down neighborhoods. The house looks like it was nice once, but years of wear and neglect have caused it to fall into disarray. The paint on the outside has faded and chipped and the shingles on the roof are mostly rotted off or caved in. If Gavin had to guess, the body they’re about to examine was probably here for drug-related issues. 

This neighborhood is pretty big on red ice. Most places like this are — old suburbs with middle class families that lost their jobs when androids got popular and fell to poverty. Red ice makes them forget, or some shit like that. Gavin doesn’t know. He’s never touched the stuff. 

When they get inside, the scene is pretty gruesome. There’s a body laid out in the middle of what must have been a living room once, at some point. There’s furniture but it's all motheaten and worn to shit. There are cigarette holes in the floral couch and an over-filled ashtray on the coffee table. The body is… 

Well. Who ever killed this guy had to have had it out for him. He’s been stabbed a few times, and it looks like there was a struggle because some of the furniture is knocked over and smeared with blood. 

RK900 wastes no time. He marches over to the blood on the hardwood floor, scoops it up with two of his fingers, and sucks it off. His LED spins yellow, processing the data, and Gavin tries not to think about the fact that whoever designed the RK wonder twins to examine data by licking it off of their fingers was one kinky motherfucker. 

RK900 doesn’t say anything once he’s processed it. Instead, he goes over to the body and examines it. Gavin gives him a minute, waits while the android turns the body over and prods at the wounds. 

“So, what’s the verdict Robocop?” Gavin asks once RK900 stands up and strides over to the window to peer outside into the yard. 

“He’s dead.” 

Gavin snorts. “Yeah. No shit. But what do you think happened?”

RK900 turns from the window slowly to look at Gavin with a bored expression. “I think he was stabbed, Detective. Obviously.” 

Gavin rolls his eyes. Okay. So it’s one of those days. RK900 must be in a pretty good mood if he’s being sarcastic at a crime scene. Gavin doesn’t feel like playing this sick fuck’s games today, so he kneels down to examine the body himself. 

He touches the victim’s hand and recoils a little. “He’s still warm,” Gavin mumbles out loud. 

“Yes, I believe we can pinpoint the time of death to just minutes before Officer Miller discovered him,” RK900 explains. “There are trace amounts of red ice in the victim’s blood. I think that he may have been here to purchase drugs from his killer.” 

Gavin stands up and looks around, trying to see if he can locate a murder weapon. RK900 steps away from the window and walks around the scene once more, thinking. He’s always thinking. 

“Maybe the murder weapon is around here, and then we can scan it for prints. If you think the murderer is his dealer, that’s killing two birds with one stone.” 

RK900 nods but he doesn’t say anything. He looks around again, fingers twitching anxiously at his sides. 

“You good, Nines?” Gavin asks. He recognizes this behavior. Nines and Connor both fidget when they’re turning an idea over in their head. “What’re you thinking?” 

“Maybe the killer is still here,” RK900 suggests, LED turning yellow as he scans the environment. 

“You think he’d stay behind?” Gavin asks, fingers inching towards his gun holster. 

“I can’t say for sure, but there aren’t any signs to indicate otherwise. I looked outside for footprints in the snow and there are none. I believe that whoever did this is still here somewhere.” 

Gavin nods and pulls out his gun. RK900 points silently towards the staircase and they make their way down as quietly as possible. If the killer is still in the building, the last thing they’re going to want to do is let them know they’re onto them. Gavin moves first, but RK900 puts his arm out to stop him, pushing past him to be the first one down the stairs. 

Typical. Of course the android needs to be the one to catch the perp, always trying to show-off his stupid computer powers. Gavin rolls his eyes and bites his tongue, all of the insults he wants to sling at his partner are going to have to wait until they’ve caught whatever bastard was stupid enough to hide at his own crime scene. 

They make it to the bottom, they’re greeted with what is pretty much an empty concrete room. There are a few shelves along the walls with old cans of house paint, caked with dust after years of neglect, but otherwise there’s nothing here. Gavin swears and lowers his gun a little, disappointment creeping in. 

“Looks like you were wrong, R2D2, there’s no one—” 

RK900 puts his arm out to signal for Gavin to shut the fuck up and scans the room. He zeroes in on something on the floor that Gavin can’t see and takes a few strides forward before crouching down, running two of his fingers along the dirty floor and putting them in his mouth for analysis. 

This used to gross Gavin out, but he’s seen RK900 put all kinds of nasty shit in his mouth during their partnership together so at this point he’s used to it. Once you’ve seen an android lick literal human brain goo off his fingertips, you kind of become immune to the yuck factor. 

“Thirum,” RK900 whispers. 

“Android blood?” Gavin asks, confused. “Do you think an android killed that guy?” 

“No,” RK900 snaps, annoyance clear in his tone. His LED cycles red for a moment before flashing back to calm blue. “I don’t think an android killed the victim.” 

“Why not? If there’s android blood on the ground and you think that the killer escaped this way then—”

“What motive would an android have for killing a human over red ice?” RK900 asks sharply. He glares at Gavin before standing up slowly and looking around the room again. “We cannot get high off of red ice. There would be no reason for an android to be present in this type of environment unless…” 

He trails off and steps towards the shelves on the far end of the room, LED spinning, yellow, yellow, yellow, red. 

“Unless?” Gavin presses.

“Unless,” RK900 continues, grabbing the shelf and deactivating the hologram that Gavin had _not_ realized was a hologram. The shelf disappears, revealing a door against the far wall. “Unless they were brought here against their will.” 

The hair on the back of Gavin’s neck stands up and he raises his gun again, aiming it at the door. RK900 pulls it open and Gavin follows closely behind as they make their way through a small corridor and under a sheet of plastic into a small concrete room filled with—

Gavin thinks he might be sick. 

There are android bodies, at least half a dozen, piled on tables and connected to tubes. Most of them are missing limbs. The one on the metal table closest to Gavin is a female, a Traci model that he’s seen before, staring up at the ceiling with lifeless eyes and blue dripping from her nose. The tubes coming out of her body are pumping empty Pepsi bottles with Thirum. 

This is a red ice lab. 

“Shit,” Gavin says under his breath and he tears his eyes away from the android. He knows that they’re not human, that they can’t feel pain, but they look so real. The sight of a dead body being drained of its blood on a metal table in the basement of some fucking crack house is enough to make anyone feel like they want to puke. 

So this is what RK900 meant by “against their will”. These androids weren’t being treated like living things. They were being used to create drugs. Gavin glances over to RK900 who looks around the room with a stone-cold expression. 

“I think we’re going to need to call in and let them know that we’ve got a few more bodies here,” Gavin tells him, making his way through the room and taking in the chemical cooking equipment. “Multiple homicide.” 

“I’m on it,” RK900 says and his LED turns yellow as he sends a report. “I’m glad that you consider them alive enough to ask me to call it in.” 

“Jesus Christ, Nines,” Gavin lowers his gun and shakes his head in disbelief. “I’m an asshole, I’m not a monster.” 

Which was partially true. In all honesty, Gavin hadn’t always been respectful towards calling in android bodies for the morgue or even writing them into reports. He’d been so used to cataloguing a dead android as “damaged property” that he was sort of… careless when the law changed and required them to consider android deaths and homicides. He and RK900 had gotten into it a few times right when they started, RK900 had called Gavin a “prejudice pig” and asked that he be removed from all cases involving androids in the future. Gavin would have _loved_ that, but Fowler said that android cases were far too frequent to have one of his best detectives on the bench. 

Gavin changed a little after one particular case really got under his skin. It was a YK500 model, a little girl with blonde hair and freckles and her skull was bashed in, body left to fucking rust in a creek on the side of the road. She reminded him of… well, she reminded him of his own daughter. 5 years old with the biggest green eyes and a heart of fucking gold It was the first time that a case had ever gotten to him, the first time that a case had dug its claws so deeply into his skin that he carried it home with him. He had nightmares about her. It was the first time he’d ever really seen an android that looked _dead._ The first time he’d ever seen one that had been murdered. 

The first time he’d ever looked at one of those plastic bodies and thought: she used to be alive and someone took that away from her. 

This? The android bodies littering the room around them, their blood being cooked down and crystalized to be sold to some junkie on the street while their limbs and components are sold on the black market? This might be enough to give him nightmares again. 

Gavin is so distracted by the sight in front of him, that he completely forgets about the fact that they were trailing a killer through the house. He forgets, until the closet he’s standing next to bursts open and he’s tackled to the ground.  
  
His head hits the concrete and he sees stars, _fuck_ _that’s going to hurt late_ r. Gavin pushes up on his attacker, but it’s no use. He was caught too off guard and he’s feeling dizzy from hitting his head so hard. He feels the man’s hands close around his throat and he thrashes, gritting his teeth, until the weight is forcefully pulled off of him by his partner.  
  
RK900 grabs the man and throws him to the ground. He reaches out a hand to pull Gavin up, and in the time it takes Gavin to get to his feet, the man is lunging at them again. Gavin sees a glint of silver coming at him and he gasps, blood pounding. There’s no way he can dodge, not from where he’s standing, but before he has time to panic, RK900 is standing in front of him and the killer is driving the knife deep into the android’s chest. 

“Nines!” Gavin shouts, drawing his gun, but it doesn’t matter. RK900 is grabbing the attacker by the throat and lifting him like he weighs nothing, like he _didn’t_ just get fucking stabbed in the chest. 

“You are under arrest,” RK900 says coolly. “Officer Chen, will you cuff this man and read him his rights please?” 

Gavin turns and realizes that Tina has entered the room, gun drawn and eyes trained on the man who attacked them. She nods at RK900 who drops the suspect. Tina grabs the man’s wrist, pinning him against the concrete as she starts putting the cuffs on.

“Fuck,” Gavin says under his breath, heart going a million miles a minute. He starts to approach Tina to give her some support, but RK900 grabs him by the shoulders and holds him in place. 

“Are you hurt, Detective?” RK900 says and Gavin thinks that maybe he hears something like worry in his voice. 

“What?” Gavin says, still in shock. “No, I—shit, Nines, you’re bleeding—”

RK900 doesn’t even look down at his own wound, eyes trained on Gavin’s. He grabs Gavin by the face and looks into his eyes, brows furrowed. 

“What’re you—” 

“Do you have a concussion?” the android asks, LED a hard red. “You hit your head.” 

“What? Nines, I’m fine! You’re bleeding, he fucking stabbed you, are you okay?” Gavin reaches out to place his hand over the wound where blood blood is spilling out. He knows that android wounds aren’t like human wounds, pressure won’t help stop the bleeding. But still. 

“I’m fine, Detective,” RK900 says dismissively. There’s a strange sort of static to his voice and his LED blinks red, rapidly. Gavin might not be a Cyberlife tech or a genius, but he doesn’t have to be to realize that all of those things are indicators that RK900 is very much _not_ okay.

“Bullshit. Your voice is all fucked up and you’re covered in blood—” 

Gavin’s words are lost on his tongue, because before he can finish what he’s saying, RK900 collapses in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines goes in for repairs and Gavin gets more than he bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 ~ Thank you for all of the wonderful comments. I am excited to post the last chapter next week :) 
> 
> This is the longest of the 3 parts. Enjoy!

Part II

Gavin doesn’t know how he manages to get to Cyberlife Tower so quickly. He presses down on the gas pedal of his Camaro and he goes, stick-on police siren blaring from where it sits on top of his car. He knows that he is only allowed to use it for emergencies (and he’s sure that RK900 will have a lot to say about this later) but right now, he doesn’t  _ care _ . 

RK900 collapsed, crumpled beside Gavin like his legs gave out. Gavin knows that RK900 is just an android, but in that moment he looked so human. He looked so hurt and so fragile that it made Gavin panic.

It’s something he can’t shake, a feeling that burrows its way under his skin like termites. Crawling and eating away at him until there’s nothing left to hold him up and he breaks. It’s a feeling that sits with him the entire drive to Cyberlife with RK900 in the backseat of his car, laid out like a fucking deadbody and his LED a lifeless red. He’d lost a lot of blood and had to go into stasis for the drive until he was able to get repairs, and while he assured Gavin that the damage was minimal, Gavin still felt like shit about it. 

“Why’d you have to go and do that, huh Tin Can?” Gavin mutters as he makes the turn onto that god-awful bridge that leads to the hideous eyesore that is Cyberlife tower. He’s pretty sure that RK900 can’t hear him, which is good. His hand shakes a little bit as he presses the button to roll his window down and is approached by one of the guards. 

“Can I help you?” the guard asks, glancing into the backseat at RK900. 

“Yeah, my android got stabbed and now he’s shutting down because you assholes don’t know how to make durable robots,” Gavin says, rolling his eyes. The guard frowns. 

“Do you have an appointment?” 

“Do I have — no. I don’t have a fucking appointment. My android got stabbed. I need the people in there to fix him.” Gavin gestures wildly towards the building in front of him. “So let me in there so they can do it.” 

The guard shifts a little in his stance. “You need a repair appointment before you can enter the building, sir. Have you tried taking him to one of the repair service centers located around the city?” 

Gavin is starting to get pissed. “I can’t take him to one of the repair centers in the city because he’s a special fucking model with parts and pieces that Cyberlife keeps under lock and fucking key. The assholes that built him this way are in there,” he points again towards the building, “and I need to get him in there and under one of their fucking computers before he dies.” 

“Sir, I’m sorry but—” 

“I have an appointment,” RK900 says from the back seat. He sits up and rolls the back window down. Gavin turns to look at him and sees that the damage has gotten worse: there’s blue blood shining on his lips and his LED is blinking rapidly. There’s static in his voice. “RK900, serial number  #313 248 317 - 87.” 

He turns up his palm, displaying his ID card and his DPD badge. “We are with the Detroit Police, and I believe they should be expecting us. I called ahead.” 

The display glitches a little and Gavin feels even more guilty. If anything happens to RK900, it’ll be his fault. 

“Right, give me a second.” The guard steps away and clicks a button on his radio. He says something into it, pauses, and then looks back up at Gavin’s car. 

He presses a button and the barrier lifts. Gavin doesn’t wait for the “go ahead” before he’s slamming on the gas the tearing ass towards the stupid silver tower in the distance. 

RK900 doesn’t say anything when Gavin pulls into a parking spot and pulls the siren light from the roof, hastily shoving it into the passenger seat. Neither of them says anything as Gavin opens the back door and helps RK900 out, carrying him up to the building and through the doors. 

They make it through reception where they’re helped by a few technicians to get RK900 into an elevator and up to one of the repair floors. RK900 looks uneasy, and Gavin isn’t used to seeing the android look so out of his element. He’s normally calm and composed. 

Gavin vaguely remembers overhearing a conversation between Hank and Connor once, after Connor had been shot on the job. It wasn’t too bad, the bullet had hit Connor’s shin and he was able to turn off the Thirium flow or something so he was  _ fine _ , but Hank was freaking out and insisting that they get Connor to Cyberlife to be repaired. 

“No, I’m fine Hank,” Connor had insisted. “I don’t want to go there. I can just reach out to Markus and see—” 

“Fuck that, Connor, Markus is not a fucking Cyberlife technician. I know that you’re afraid—” 

“I’m not afraid!” Connor had said, his voice so small. “I just… I don’t trust them. I told you this.” 

Gavin walked away after that, but Connor came back to work the next day with a new leg so he must have sucked it up and gone in to get repairs anyway. At the time, Gavin hadn’t really given it any thought, but now, seeing how RK900’s fingers twitch as they lead them down a corridor and into a white room with a metal contraption, he thinks maybe he gets it just a little bit. 

Cyberlife had tried to cover up deviancy. They’d lied to the public, rounded up androids and thrown them into camps to be taken apart and harvested for their biocomponents. It makes sense that androids wouldn’t feel comfortable going there and being worked on, even if it was the only place to get repairs. 

When they get to the service chamber where the work will be done, they’re introduced to a tech (some pretty girl with blonde hair whose name Gavin misses the moment they are introduced) and she tells them that Gavin doesn’t have to wait. He sees a flicker of something (fear? anxiety?) in RK900’s eyes when she says that, but it doesn’t really matter. 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere until I know that my partner is okay,” Gavin says to her and RK900’s expression relaxes a little. “I don’t trust you fuckers as far as I can throw you—”

“Which isn’t very far,” RK900 points out. 

“Right, which isn’t very— hey!” Gavin turns on RK900 who’s smirking at him. It’s relieving to know that the asshole can still joke, in spite of everything. He might be spilling blue blood all over Gavin’s freshly washed seats, but he can still make snide comments which means he can be that hurt. 

“Suit yourself,” the technician says with a shrug. She punches a code into the door pad and the door slides open. The room is white and and empty, it smells sterile the way a normal hospital room would. Actually, everything about the room reminds Gavin of a normal hospital room, aside from the metal contraption in the center of the room where a bed would usually be. 

“Alright, RK900, can you go ahead and remove your shirt please?” 

Gavin starts to immediately regret agreeing to stay in the room when RK900 starts to disrobe. He’s always wearing professional clothes and sweaters so it’s been hard to tell for sure, but Gavin sort of had a feeling that Cyberlife designed him to be hot as hell. When the blazer and button up thay RK900 is wearing currently falls to the floor, Gavin has to force himself to look away because, yeah, he was right. 

RK900 is gorgeous in all of the right ways. From the pale stretch of his synth skin to the tight muscular lines of his abs going down to the V above his jeans, he looks like he was carved from fucking marble. Gavin doesn’t want to stare like his partner is a piece of meat, but there’s really only so much that his gay heart can handle. 

He’s only human, after all. 

If RK900 noticed Gavin staring, Gavin doesn’t know because he refuses to meet the android’s eyes. There’s no way RK900 would ever let him live this down if he noticed, so Gavin picks a speck on one of the perfectly white tiles on the floor to stare at while RK900 gets situated on the contraption. 

“I’m going to connect you, and then I’m going to run some diagnostics. You’ll need to go into stasis for me, please so that this isn’t unpleasant for you.” The tech takes a seat in a wheely stool and scoots over to a massive computer. 

RK900 looks nervous, but he steps back into the machine and it latches onto a port on his neck. His eyes go wide and Gavin wonders if it hurts, but then he remembers that androids can’t feel pain. But still, it doesn’t look comfortable…

“You can go into stasis now, RK900.” The technician doesn’t even turn to look at him. She doesn’t see the hesitation on his face or the worry in his brow. 

“Hey, I’m gonna sit right here,” Gavin says to the room. “In this chair. Is that cool?” 

“What?” the tech asks, turning to face him. “Oh. Uh, yeah that’s fine. It’s gonna be pretty boring though so if you wanna go get a snack or something there’s vending in the break room down the hall.” 

“Nah,” Gavin says,  _ not _ looking at RK900. “I’ll stay here while he gets fixed.” He pauses, and then finally glances over to meet RK900’s eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.” 

RK900 smiles (a strange thing, because for once he doesn’t look like a goddamn murderer) and then he closes his eyes. His LED spins red, and then stops, pulsing instead. 

The technician gets to work. She types a bunch of things on her computer and rolls her hair over to where RK900 is suspended. She touches the spot where the cut is on his chest, and a patch of his skin retracts so she can remove the damaged panel. 

It’s weird, seeing all of the robogore. It’s never been something that Gavin’s been interested in, but he can’t say it’s boring watching as the tech applies gel to the damaged wires to repair them. 

Gavin spends about 3 hours there, watching as the technician works her way through the damaged pieces and fixes him. When she’s done, the contraption lays back to look less like a fucking sex dungeon crucifiction machine and more like a bed. She grabs a white sheet from a cabinet and drapes it over the android’s body, covering his perfect chest. 

“I’m just going to run another system diagnostic and then he should be good to go,” she tells Gavin, wheeling herself over to her computer to type in more numbers that Gavin doesn’t understand. 

RK900 is asleep, or in stasis, whatever the bell it’s called for androids, and Gavin’s never seen him look so relaxed. 

Gavin doesn’t know why he does it, but something compels him to reach out and touch RK900’s hand. Just a gentle touch, an apology maybe. A way of silently saying: _ I’m here, I’m not leaving, I’m sorry.  _

When his fingertips brush RK900’s skin, it’s warm. The android feels just like a normal person, smooth and soft. RK900’s fingers twitch a little at the contact but his eyes remain closed. Gavin rubs a small circle into the back of the android’s hand, but something happens. He gasps and pulls his hand away as RK900’s skin vanishes, revealing a smooth, white plastic hand in its place. 

The technician looks over at his reaction. 

“Oh, shit,” Gavin breathes, backing away. “I didn’t mean to do that. Did I fuck something up?” 

She smiles and shakes her head. “Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong. It’s just an involuntary reaction to intimate touch. It just means that even in stasis, he recognizes that it’s you. It’s his way of trying to connect with you,” she explains. There’s a flush in her cheeks when she says: “My boyfriend does it all the time with me. It’s sweet.” 

Gavin gapes at her. “Your boyfriend is an android?” 

She shrugs. “Yeah, but so is yours.” 

“Nines is not my boyfriend,” Gavin assures her quickly, his face burning. 

She stutters a little and glances back down to RK900’s hand. “Oh,” she says, “I’m sorry. I just assumed because of his reaction and the way his code is responding that… never mind.” She turns back to her computer and continues typing away at things Gavin can’t understand. “You two must be close, is all. If he’s trying to interface with you, you must mean a lot to him.” 

Gavin slumps in his chair. “Yeah, I uh,” he coughs, “I guess.” 

She gives him a smile and goes back to typing, leaving him alone with his thoughts. RK900 had jumped in front of that knife without hesitation. He had taken it, risked his own life, to make sure that Gavin would be okay. And Gavin is so fucking confused about it. 

They are supposed to hate each other. That’s their thing. That’s always been their thing. This… all of this, the white exposed robo-skin and the self-sacrificial bullshit, throws a wrench into their entire dynamic. It shifts the balance, tilts the axis of the planet so that they’re walking on crooked ground. Gavin wishes he understood these feelings or how to process them, but right now all he can think about is the android on the bed in front of him with wires coming out of the back of his neck and his LED pulsing red. 

“Alright, well it looks like everything should be functioning normally now. I’m going to wake him up.” She closes out of a few windows and looks over at Gavin. “Does he have a preferred name?” 

Gavin looks away, guilty. He doesn’t think that RK900 has a preferred name, and if he does, Gavin’s never bothered to ask. Gavin calls him “Nines” but that’s just because Gavin doesn’t want to bother with a mouthful like “RK900” every time he mentions him. 

“Uh,” Gavin says, trying to find the best way to word it. “I uh, I don’t…” 

The technician nods. “That’s okay. I understand.” 

She rolls her chair back and hits something on her computer that causes the wires attached to RK900 hiss and disconnect. The red flicks to a calm blue and Gavin feels himself relax a little. She scoots closer to RK900 and grabs his wrist, pressing her finger to the inside of it and his eyes open. He looks at Gavin first, expression unreadable, and then towards the technician. 

“Hello, RK900,” she says, voice kind. “Can you run a diagnostic for me?” 

RK900 nods, LED cycling yellow as his eyes roll back and glitch for a moment. “It seems like I’m functioning at optimal capacity. The repairs are complete. Thank you, Ashley.” 

The technician, Ashley, smiles. “Wonderful. Do you have a preferred name, RK900? So I can put it into our records?” 

RK900 flushes blue. He doesn’t look at Gavin. “I go by Nines,” he says and Gavin feels his chest tighten at that. He’s positive that he was the first person to ever call him that. 

“Nines.” She rolls her chair back to her computer and types in a note. “Well, Nines, I’m glad you made it here in time. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that if that knife had been even a few more inches to the left, it would have severed the connection to your Thirium pump.” 

Nines nods. “I am aware.” 

She raises her eyebrows. “If that were to happen, you know that you would not have been able to be fixed and come back the way that you are now. Deviants can’t be backed up. Once you shut down, you’re gone. But surely, you’re aware of this.” 

Gavin feels like he’s been punched in the face. Nines had assured him time and time again that he was incapable of dying. He’d acted like taking a knife to his chest was nothing, like he’d gotten a splinter in his finger and that they had to go to Cyberlife to get it removed. He had not made it clear that he could have shut down for good. Gavin didn’t even know androids could shut down for good. Suddenly, he feels horribly insensitive for all of the android murders he’d swept under the rug and refused to take seriously.

The technician flickers her gaze towards Gavin and then back towards Nines again. 

“Yes,” Nines says quietly. “I am aware.” 

Gavin stands up. His ears are ringing and he needs to get some air. 

“I’ll be outside when you’re done.” Gavin doesn’t look back as he snatches up his jacket and rushes out of the room. 

* * *

It’s snowing outside and Gavin is freezing as he waits for Nines, but he doesn’t go back in. Instead, he sucks on his vape until there’s nothing left and wraps his arms around himself as he sits on a bench outside of the looming silver hue of the fluorescent lights. 

Why had Nines risked it all for him? He hadn’t hesitated, hadn’t even fucking blinked when he stepped between Gavin and that knife. He could have died. 

It didn’t make any sense. 

Gavin feels Nines sit down beside him and doesn’t look over at him. He tries to pull a little more out of his vape but it’s no use. It’s spent. 

“All better?” Gavin says with a little more bite than he means to. 

“Yes.” Nines leans forward and folds his hands in front of his face. 

“Great.” 

“You are angry with me.” It’s not a question. Nines glances over at Gavin, blue eyes filled with something Gavin can’t quite place. 

“No shit.” Gavin shivers and his teeth chatter just a little as the snow starts to pick up, piling along the shrubbery. 

“It’s cold. Perhaps we can continue this conversation—”

“There is no conversation, Nines. There’s nothing to say.” Gavin turns to face him, fully. 

Nines’ LED cycles red. There are snowflakes in his hair, and he looks concerned and confused and it’s ten different shades of Too Much. Gavin can’t do this. He stands to leave, but Nines catches his wrist. 

“I apologize for getting injured on the job, Detective Reed. I know that it must have been difficult for you to drive me all the way out here, but I can compensate you for the trouble.” 

Gavin wretches his hand free and stares at Nines in shock. “Do you really not understand why I’m upset?” 

Nines hesitates for a moment. He looks like he has a million things to say but doesn’t know how to say any of them. A first, Gavin thinks, since the plastic prick always knows the right answer usually. 

“Look,” Gavin says with a sigh. He breathes and shoves his hands in his pocket, picking a particularly interesting piece of cobblestone walkway to focus on. “I’m upset because you could have fucking died. You are too reckless on scenes, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen you jump on a bad guy or chase someone through dangerous environments. I never uh, well I never said anything before because I thought that…” 

Gavin trails off. He kicks at a rock under his feet and sends it flying into a pile of snow. 

“You thought that I wasn’t alive,” Nines says slowly. He’s watching Gavin from the bench with careful eyes. “So you thought that I couldn’t die.” 

Fuck. When he says it like that it makes Gavin sound like an asshole. And well. Maybe he is an asshole. 

“I thought that if anything happened to you that they could just… put you back together. I thought that if you got hurt or got… ya know…”

“Killed?”

“Yes!” Gavin looks up and meets those awful fucking blue eyes. “Yes, okay? I thought that if you got killed then they could just use Gorilla Glue and like, I don’t know, put you in rice or something—”

“Put me in rice?” Nines smirks a little at that. 

“You know what I mean,” Gavin says and waves his hands dismissively. “I didn’t think that there could be permanent damage.” 

Nines is quiet for a minute. His LED spins yellow (processing information, Gavin knows now), and he nods. 

“I apologize. I have been…” he searches for the right word, chewing his bottom lip, “reckless, during our time together. I think that despite our many,  _ many _ differences,” (did he have to say ‘many’ twice?), “we share similarities in how we’ve thought of my value. You are mistaken in saying that I cannot be repaired. I can be repaired—” 

“But you won’t be  _ you _ ,” Gavin stresses, taking a step closer and really emphasizing his last word. “You won’t be Nines. You’ll be another RK900, a walking fucking tin can asshole that doesn’t care about anything but the job.” 

Nines cocks his head to the side. “Is that not all that I am now?” 

“No,” Gavin practically shouts at him. “No, of course not!” 

Nines’ LED blinks: yellow, yellow, blue. He grins. A fucking massive, shit-eating grin. Nines stands up and takes a step towards Gavin, towering over him. Gavin steps back, his heart jumping to his throat. fuck. 

_ Fuck. This is it. He’s going to kill me. _

Nines comes closer and closer, and Gavin retreats until he’s backed up against one of the stone pillar street lamps that light up the parking lot. Nines advances, leaning over Gavin with his forearm bolstered on a spot just above Gavin’s head. Gavin has rarely ever been this close to him, so close he can see the little moles and details that whoever made him put on his skin. So close that he can practically hear the pounding of the regulator in his chest, so close that he can see the wetness of Nines’ lips, how real they look. 

“Are you saying,” Nines says softly, face so close, “Detective Reed, that you _ don’t  _ think of me as a ‘walking tin can asshole’?”

Gavin swallows hard and looks away. 

“I never said that,” Gavin tries to defend himself, but it’s no use. Nines leans down so that their faces are level. 

“Look at me, Detective.” 

Gavin squeezes his eyes shut and presses his back harder against the stone pillar. It’s snowing more heavily now but he’s not cold anymore. In fact, he’s sweating a little. 

“Gavin.” Nines’ voice is strained, desperate. 

_ Fuck.  _

Gavin opens his eyes and turns to meet his partner’s gaze, and  _ oh shit _ , Nines is looking at him like...like… well. Like he wants to tear Gavin apart with his eyes. Nines bites his lower lip and searches Gavin’s face for something that Gavin doesn’t know how to give him, but  _ fuck _ , he wants to give it to him. 

“Tell me that you think I’m alive,” Nines says, finally, after what feels like an eternity of staring at each other. “Tell me that I’m not a machine.” 

“F-fuck you,” Gavin chokes out. He can barely hear himself over the sound of his own heartbeat. “T-Tin Can… Get the fuck away from me. I can’t stand you.” 

“I don’t think you feel that way at all, Detective,” Nines whispers, he’s so close that Gavin can fucking smell him. He smells like cologne and shampoo and  _ what the fuck _ , do androids even need to shower? Gavin’s never even thought about that before, but now he can’t stop thinking about Nines in some apartment in Detroit where he lives (where the fuck does he live? Do androids have apartments? That’s stupid. Of course they do.) stepping into the shower after a long day, lathering up those broad shoulders…

_ Fuck. Stop. Stop thinking about Nines in the shower _ . 

“I think,” Nines continues, “that you were afraid today. I think that when Ashley said that I could die, it scared you. I think you’re afraid of losing me.” 

“I’m not afraid of shit.” Gavin’s voice breaks on the last word. Nines leans in closer, so close that their noses almost touch. Gavin isn’t sure if Nines is about to murder him or kiss him and honestly he doesn’t think he cares at this point. 

“You still haven’t thanked me, you know.” Nines’ breath is hot against Gavin’s face. Gavin was under the impression that androids didn’t need to breathe, so Nines must be doing this on purpose. “For saving your life.” 

Gavin tries to come up with a witty retort but the words are lost on his lips. Instead, he just stares back at his partner and tries with everything he has to steady his breathing. Nines smirks again and leans in closer—

“Mr. Nines!” Ashley’s voice cuts through the quiet of their moment and Nines steps back. Gavin becomes acutely aware of the cold as soon as they’re parted, and he also becomes aware of how painfully hard he is. 

Oh. 

Oh no.

Fuck. 

Gavin starts walking towards his car, not paying any attention to whatever the fuck Ashley is talking about. She hands Nines a box and he hears her apologize but he doesn't care. He opens the door, turns the key in the ignition and cranks the heat up as high as it will go. 

What the fuck. What the actual fuck. 

Was Nines seriously about to kiss him just now? And did Gavin actually want it? Gavin doesn’t look at Nines when Nines gets into the car. The android doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t attempt to continue the conversation from before (which Gavin is  _ not _ fucking disappointed about, nope). He just clicks his seatbelt on and places the cardboard box on the passenger seat floor. 

They drive back to the precinct in silence and when Gavin lets Nines out, the android doesn’t say goodbye. Gavin sits in his car for a few minutes after Nines disappears into the building, trying to process the entire day and coming up red. Why did Nines throw himself in front of that maniac? Why did Nines lie about his well being and play it off like it wasn’t a big deal when he was literally dying in Gavin’s back seat? Why had Nines leaned in so close, lowered his voice like that and…

Gavin drives home blasting Drake so loud that his ears ring once he’s cut the engine. 

* * *

“ _ You still haven’t thanked me, _ ” Nines had said with his blue eyes so close. “ _ For saving your life. _ ” 

And fuck. He was right about that. 

Gavin owed him. He owed the plastic prick for saving his life, regardless of if he’d asked him to or not. Gavin would have been dead if it hadn’t been for Nines’ lack of hesitation. He can still see it, playing in his head over and over again like a movie. He can still feel the way his heart had practically stopped when he saw the silver glint of the knife in that killer’s hand. He almost died, and if the knife had been a few centimeters lower, Nines would have died. 

Gavin knows now that Nines is capable of death in the same way humans are, and he almost just let Nines die because he’s a fucking idiot. So now he owes him, and he has no fucking clue how to make up “saving my life” to an android. 

So he tries. 

First, Gavin buys Nines one of those Thirium based coffees that he always sees at the corner stores. It’s absurdly overpriced for what it is, but androids like that shit right? He doesn’t know. But he buys it anyway. He places it on Nines’ desk when the android isn’t looking, trying to play it off as casual and praying that it won’t be a big deal. 

When Nines sees the drink on his desk, he picks it up and regards it carefully. His LED spins yellow for a moment before he looks up at Gavin and says: “Is this from you?” 

Gavin doesn’t make eye contact. “Yeah, I don’t know if you like that flavor or whatever but, I was buying myself coffee and I figured I should get you something on my way into work.” 

Nines raises his eyebrows. “These are quite expensive. You didn’t have to do that.” 

“It’s not a big deal,” Gavin tells him, shrugging. “Seriously, I just saw it while I was in there and I thought of you.” 

“You thought of me.” 

“Yes.” 

“Huh.” 

He opens the bottle and takes a sip, sitting down at his desk and turning on his terminal. Gavin feels his cheeks growing hot, but he feels satisfied. Buying Nines a coffee doesn’t exactly function on the same level as “you saved my life”, but it's a start at least. Gavin is feeling less guilty by the minute and his mood is lifting. 

The rest of the day goes by well, he and Nines go back to a semi-normal routine of fucking with each other and bickering while pouring over casefiles. If he doesn’t think too hard about it, Gavin forgets that yesterday even happened at all. He forgets about the blue blood leaking through the fabric of the backseat of his Camaro. He forgets about the edge in the tech’s voice when she told Nines that if he had been any more reckless, he’d be dead. He forgets about the way the snowflakes melted on contact with his own face from the heat the spread all the way up from his belly when Nines leaned in close and —

Nope. 

Okay, maybe it wasn’t completely back to normal. But it was normal enough. At the very least, Nines seemed content to just leave yesterday in the past where it belongs. That is, until Fowler makes his way over to them right after Gavin gets back from his lunch break. He’s holding a file in his hand and he looks concerned. 

“Hey, Nines, what the fuck happened yesterday?” Gavin has worked with Fowler long enough to know that cursing is how he shows affection. He must have heard about Nines’ injury and he’s checking in. 

“Captain Fowler,” Nines says and Gavin can hear an unmistakable quiver in the android’s voice. “I apologize for not telling you sooner, I was attacked on the job by a suspect that we found hiding in a red ice lab.” 

“Yeah, no shit, I see that.” Fowler holds up the file and gives Nines a look. “I also see that they’re charging you $4,000 for repairs, which is fucking bullshit considering that you were hurt on the job. I’m trying to get in touch with HR to see if they can comp you for it, but with android laws still changing and all I’m not sure that there is much I can do.” 

Gavin sees a tinge of blue on Nines’ cheeks. He doesn’t look at Gavin when he says: “I appreciate your concern, Captain. I will try to be more careful from now on.” 

Fowler stares at Nines for a long moment. “I’m not angry at you for getting hurt, I’m angry that one of my men was attacked on the job and the fucking DPD won’t comp the medical bills.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Gavin interrupts, and Fowler turns to give him a look that is equal parts surprised and understanding. 

“For once I actually agree with Reed, this is bullshit.” 

“They don’t have like, Medicaid for androids or shit like that?”

Nines scoffs. “No, Detective, they do not.” 

And that… pisses him off. It also makes him feel even more guilty than he felt this morning. If Nines was really out four fucking grand because Gavin was a reckless idiot on a crime scene, then a $30 Thirium coffee hardly comes close to compensating him for all that he did. 

“Well,” Fowler says with a heavy sigh. “I’m gonna see what I can do, but I can’t promise you it will be much. Good job on the bust yesterday though, all other things aside. We think that might have been one of the main dens in the area, so you saved a lot of lives yesterday.” 

Nines smiles. “Thank you, Captain.” 

“Gavin,” Fowler barks, before he turns to head back to his office, “you better take him out for a fuckin’ drink or something to thank him for saving your sorry ass.” 

Gavin swallows hard and nods, but he doesn’t say anything. Not that there’s much  _ to _ say, really. Fowler is right, Gavin owes Nines big time. 

As they’re leaving for the night, Gavin grabs Nines by the arm and stops him. “Hey,” he says, trying to work up the courage. 

“Can I help you with something, Detective?” 

“You, uh,” he sighs, steadying himself. “You busy tonight?” 

There’s a look on Nines’ face that Gavin can’t quite place. His LED cycles yellow and then rests at a cool blue. He searches Gavin’s face, scanning him, eyes narrowing a little, brow creasing. 

“I’m not busy, no. Would you like to do something together?” 

Gavin nods. “Yeah, there’s a cool bar downtown and they have that new shit that gets androids drunk. I was thinkin’ you know, if you wanted to, we could go get drinks?” 

God, why does he feel like an 8th grader asking out his first crush? He usually has much better game than this. Though, it seems to be working for Nines all the same. 

“I’d like that,” Nines says, a grin pulling at his lips. 

“Great, I’ll drive.” 

* * *

The bar is actually pretty cool. Gavin hasn’t ever been here before, but it’s totally his style. It’s a hip gastropub with neon lights and high top tables. There’s a live band playing tonight and Gavin notices right away that two of the four band members are androids. There are rainbow flags hung all along the ceiling and stickers and hand-painted signs that say things like “All Life Forms Welcome Here” and “Blue Blood, Red Blood, We All Deserve Love”. There are framed pictures on the walls and newspaper clippings from the revolution. Apparently this bar offered a safe place for androids to hide during the raids that November. 

They’d been recognized by local government and news channels as “heroes”, though Gavin can’t help but wonder how things would be different had the revolution gone any other way. Sure, they’re considered heroes now. But that night in November 2039? When the snow mixed with blue and red in some sick watercolor painting of the American fucking flag, and cops were ordered to shoot androids on sight? If they’d been discovered then, Gavin knows for a fact that there would be no bar for them to be standing in now. 

He shakes the thoughts from his head. It’s a different time now. He’s a different man now. Things are changing. He’s changing. 

As it stands now, the bar is filled with people from all walks of life. There are androids and humans, no one is staring at Nines’ LED and Gavin is thankful for it. He and Nines find a booth off in the corner under a neon sign shaped like an ice cream cone and Gavin shrugs off his coat before going to the bar to order them both drinks. 

“What can I get you?” the bartender asks when Gavin approaches. She’s pretty, blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail. She’s an android, a model that he recognizes from Elijah Kamski’s files after the revolution. 

“I’ll take a rum and coke and uh, fuck, I don’t know, one of those fancy android drinks that gets androids wasted.” 

She blinks at him, a small smiling curling at her lips. 

“First time on a date with an android?” she asks, but she doesn’t sound like she’s judging. 

“Uh, yeah,” Gavin tells her, feeling his cheeks pink. “Something like that.” 

“Well, there are a few options for drinks. What sort of stuff do they like?”

Shit. Gavin has no fucking clue what kinds of drinks Nines likes. He’s never asked before. 

“Uh,” Gavin says, feeling like a total idiot. 

The bartender seems to understand though and she nods. “Right. First date. Well what kind of person are they? Flavor and taste for androids is a little different than it is for humans. I might be able to figure out what you should order if you tell me a little bit about them.” 

Gavin swallows. “He’s uh, he’s sort of sarcastic. Kind of a huge asshole with a totally deadpan sense of humor. He’s hard to read a lot of the time and he acts like he doesn’t care but he has all of these plants on his desk that he always fusses over, so I know that he does.” 

She smiles. “Sounds like you like him a lot.” 

Gavin’s face feels hot. He doesn’t know what to say to that so he just nods. She turns and starts making a drink. It’s dark blue and served in a whiskey glass on the rocks. When she hands it to him, Gavin wonders if the ice makes any sort of difference. 

He thanks her and heads back to where Nines is waiting for him and slides the drink across the table. Nines catches it and looks down on it, his eyebrows creasing in mild amusement. 

“How did you know?” he asks, raising the glass to his lips. “This is my favorite.” 

“Oh uh,” Gavin stutters, shrugging. “The bartender did all of the work, I just told her—” 

“About how much you like me?” 

Gavin stares. “How did you—”

Nines winks at him and nods towards the bartender who’s watching them. She waves at Gavin and then points to her LED. 

“I ordered my drink before you got to the bar, genius,” Nines says, amused. “Did you really think that our tastes depended on our personalities?” 

Gavin doesn’t have the fucking words to respond to that. Here he is, trying to do something nice for this plastic asshole, and Nines can’t help but absolutely humiliate him. It’s like he gets off on it. 

Wait. Maybe he  _ does _ get off on it. 

“Does this do something for you, asshole?” Gavin asks, knocking back his drink in one long swallow. The carbonation stings a little and he burps in Nines’ face. “Fuckin’ with me?” 

“Well, yes. I find it hilarious.” 

“Oh, fuck off.” Gavin shoves Nines but there’s no real force in it. 

“So you think I’m sarcastic?” 

“Fuck,” Gavin repeats, “off.” 

Nines rolls his eyes and takes another sip of his drink. It’s a pretty shade of blue with a metallic sheen to it. Gavin wonders vaguely what it tastes like. 

Nines orders Gavin another drink, something fruity and pink and fucking delicious. They talk, sharing stories and pitching half-hearted insults at one another. Gavin realizes that he and Nines have a lot more in common than he thought, and that maybe the G.I. Joe isn’t actually that bad. They’ve known each other for a long time even if they’ve never spent any effort getting to know each other. Gavin talks about his time in the academy, about how he’s the youngest of five boys and how he grew up in a generation that faced collective trauma after collective trauma. He talks about coming out as gay in an environment clotted with toxic masculinity and about his daughter, Emily. 

“My ex has custody of her, it just made sense. You know how this job is with hours and shit, especially when there’s a tough case. My ex is a kindergarten teacher so his hours are more ideal, plus he’s able to provide for her in different ways.” 

Nines nods, and Gavin wonders if Nines really understands. Nines has been alive for only a short amount of time, but maybe he knows what it’s like to try balancing a relationship on top of the fucking instability of detective work. He wonders if Nines struggles with leaving his work at the precinct too, or if he’s like Gavin and he can’t get away from it no matter what he does to try and drown it out. Sometimes, Gavin understands exactly why Hank drinks the way he does. If he lost Emily like Hank lost Cole, he doesn’t know if he’d ever really be able to forgive himself for all of his recitals and birthday parties he missed because he was too busy working on cracking a case. 

He wonders if Nines really understands at all. 

“Have you dated anyone?” Gavin asks when he’s feeling buzzed enough to have a little confidence boost. “Ya know, since you were activated or whatever?” 

Nines scoffs at that, placing his drink down on the table a little too hard. “No,” he says firmly, “I have not.” 

Gavin gapes at him. “Wait, you’ve never dated anyone?” 

“Did you not hear me correctly?” Nines asks with a smug smirk. 

“No, man, I heard you,” Gavin says quickly. “But are you serious? Hasn’t there been anyone you’re interested in? How about that cute bartender?” Gavin turns to look at the bartender again. She’s leaning over the counter talking to another customer. She smiles as she makes the customer a drink and throws her head back in laughter at a joke. “I can go give her your number.” 

“She’s not my type, Gavin.” Nines says that with such finality that Gavin almost pulls a muscle when he snaps his head back to look at him. Nines is staring, those blue eyes fixed on Gavin with the usual murderous sheen. 

For some reason, it sends a strange feeling through Gavin. It makes heat pool low in his belly. It’s a familiar sensation, but not one he’s used to experiencing with Nines. Is… is Nines hitting on him? 

“Oh,” Gavin says, mouth suddenly dry. “Then what is your type?”

“Oh, you know,” Nines says, gaze steady. “Short. Arrogant. Way too frustrating to be around.” 

Gavin’s cheeks are burning and his pulse is racing. 

“I think he’d have green eyes, too. And a terrible fashion sense.” 

“Hey!” Gavin chokes out, but there’s no bite to it. It takes him a few minutes for it to really sink in, the gravity of what Nines is saying to him. Things start to make sense now, little by little. 

“Wait,” Gavin says, finishing his drink and feeling his head start to swim. “Are you telling me that you’re… what? Into me?”

Nines’ LED burns red. “I thought you were supposed to be a detective.” Gavin glares at him, but Nines just rolls his eyes. “Of course I’m into you. You’ve caught me staring at you  _ how _ many times? I’ve been trying not to be obvious about it but once you started loudly calling me out for it I was sure you’d at least picked up on it.” 

“Oh,” Gavin says in response, mostly because he doesn’t really know what else to say. He can feel the gears (ha ha, no, though, really) turning in his head as he turns Nines’ words over. “I just thought you were trying to kill me.” 

Nines sighs. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” 

He’s not sure which of them moves first, but the next thing Gavin knows is the feeling of Nines’ mouth on his. The next thing he knows is the way those perfect fucking fingers feel on the back of his head. Kissing Nines is thrilling, like a dam that Gavin had spent so much time trying to keep together has finally broken. He doesn’t want to stop, not ever, he just wants to pull Nines closer and feel their bodies pressed together. 

It’s the same heat from the parking lot, the same angry growling from somewhere deep within his chest. He can’t explain it. Maybe he’s wanted this for a while. Maybe he’s always known that they’d end up like this, both of them tipsy and high off of the feeling of having survived a near death experience, lost in the feeling of  _ feeling. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Nines get down and dirty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a few days late, but here it is! The 3.5k word NSFW scene :D Thank you for those of you who followed this story as it was updating. I had a lot of fun writing this story and getting a chance to work with an artist. I hope that this chapter makes you all happy <3 
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Nines wastes no time. 

The moment the door closes behind them, Nines is shoving Gavin roughly against the bookshelves and knocking things to the ground. Gavin doesn’t really have time to even take in the environment, though he’s curious to see what sorts of things an android like Nines keeps in his apartment. He makes a mental note to snoop around later. For now, there’s only one thing on his mind: figuring out where the bedroom is and getting into the android’s pants as quickly as humanly possible. 

“Fuck,” Gavin breathes as Nines lifts him, effortlessly by his thighs and pushes him against the exposed brick. It’s dark in the apartment, the only light guiding them through the space is from the orange hue sneaking in between the slivers of the blinds and the yellow spin of Nines’ LED. 

Nines hums and moves his lips to Gavin’s neck, biting down with synthetic teeth right at the curve of Gavin’s jaw. Gavin hisses at the sensation, bucking his hips forward

Nines carries Gavin through his apartment, lips hungrily exploring every inch of Gavin he can reach as they maneuver their way through the dark hallway. They reach a door and Nines kicks it open, the lights inside coming to life the moment they enter. The lights are low, dimmed and not quite the familiar white color Gavin is used to. The light is warmer somehow, like candle light all around them. Nines drops Gavin down onto the large bed in the center of the room and Gavin whines when he feels Nines pull away.

Nines is standing at the foot of the bed, looking at Gavin like he wants to rip him limb from limb. Gavin knows that androids can’t eat, but if he didn’t know any better he’d say that Nines is starving. 

Nines doesn’t pull his gaze away as he starts undoing the buttons on his tight button-up, eyes ice-cold and perfectly silver-blue in the light of the room. Gavin stares back, letting his gaze trail down to Nines’ exposed chest and _fuck_ , why the hell did Cyberlife make him so sexy?

Gavin had wondered, obviously, what was hiding under that shirt for months. And now that he is finally seeing it, he is not disappointed.

Nines is hot, like, _really_ hot. Tall and pale with muscles that look like they were chiseled by motherfucking Michelangelo (the artist, not the ninja turtle, duh). He looks like carved marble, smooth and perfect in every way. Even his nipples are gorgeous, perfectly pink and hard on his toned pecs. Gavin’s mouth waters and he swallows hard, averting his eyes. 

“You can stare, if you want to.” Nines reaches out and places a hand on Gavin’s face, tracing his jawline and lifting his chin. Gavin’s tongue feels too big in his mouth and his palms are sweating. When Nines touches him, it feels like his entire body is on fire. 

He knows he needs to relax, but he’s feeling thoroughly unprepared for what ever the fuck is about to happen tonight. He’s never had sex with an android. He’s never really even thought… 

Okay. That’s not true. He has _thought_ about sex with androids before. But he never thought that it would actually, ya know, _happen_.

And yet, this perfectly chiseled adonis is standing before him, looking at Gavin with hungry eyes wearing tight black boxer-briefs that perfectly outline the impeccable shape of his perfect cock, hard and ready. Gavin swallows dryly and starts to take off his own shirt, anticipation uncoiling in his belly. 

Once Gavin’s shirt and jeans are off and thrown into a messy pile on the floor, Nines makes his way onto the bed, kneeling on the edge of it and staring at Gavin like he’s a tall glass of Thirium (that’s what androids like, right? Is that a good metaphor? Gavin’s too horny to care). Gavin leans back on the pillow and gives Nines a suggestive grin. 

“So,” he says coyly, lips curling. “Are you going to sit there and stare at me, or are you going to fuck me?’ 

Nines cocks an eyebrow and the tiniest smirk plays on his lips before he lunges forward and kisses Gavin so hard that it nearly sucks the life out of him. Nines is grinding into him, pressing him down into the mattress with a strong fist in Gavin’s hair. Nothing about him is gentle. Not the tongue that sneaks its way into Gavin’s mouth or the teeth that bite at Gavin’s lips. Not the palm that digs into Gavin’s scalp, and certainly not the cock that grinds against Gavin’s leg. 

Gavin moans against the android’s mouth, hips moving without his control, desperate for some kind of friction. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted this until it was happening, but now he can’t imagine wanting anything else.

“Be a good boy for me Gavin,” Nines growls, his voice sending shock waves up Gavin’s spine. “Turn over.” 

And how the fuck is Gavin supposed to say no to that? 

He turns over, feeling the flush in his face, and the android runs a soft hand (why are his hands so fucking soft? Gavin makes a mental note to write a thank you letter to Cyberlife for being so fucking thorough) along Gavin’s spine, stopping at the hem of Gavin’s underwear. He pulls them down roughly, they settle on Gavin’s knees. 

Gavin’s done this enough times to not feel self-conscious at being so exposed in front of someone. There’s an excitement to it, a high from being this vulnerable with a new person. He’s not nervous, he’s excited. 

Gavin doesn’t know what he’s expecting, but when he feels the android’s hand grip his hips and then the soft wet feeling of the android tongue against his hole, it catches him off guard. 

“Jesus _Christ_ , Nines,” Gavin cries, fisting the sheets as the android just fucking goes for it on Gavin’s asshole. “Warn a guy first.” 

Nines pulls away and Gavin moans a little at the loss of stimulation. “Apologies,” Nines says, but something in his tone tells Gavin that he is _not_ sorry at all. “I didn’t think you were type to…” He trails off, and Gavin strains to turn around and look him in the eyes. 

“What?” Gavin snaps, and Nines just smirks at him in response. 

“I just assumed that you were the type of person that enjoys being dominated sexually.” He says it like it’s the most obvious fucking thing in the world. Like Gavin is an open book, some fucking Highlights magazine in a dentist’s office waiting to be read. 

He’s not _wrong_ , exactly, but it’s still fucking rude to just _assume_. 

“I wasn’t saying no,” Gavin says a little too quickly. “Just, let me know before you stick your tongue in my ass.” 

Nines sighs, a theatrical display since Gavin knows that androids don’t need to breathe let alone fucking _sigh_ in annoyance. 

“Alright then,” Nines says, an air of annoyance in his voice. “I’m going to perform oral sex on your rect—”

“Oh holy fuck, don’t _say_ that shit,” Gavin groans, frustration getting the best of him. 

“Gavin.” 

“Fuck, okay.” Gavin looks away. “Fine. Just. Fucking do it.” 

The android laughs, actually _laughs_ , and then says: “You really are such a child.” 

Before Gavin can say anything else, Nines is back in position. His tongue feels so real — hot and wet against Gavin’s hole. For a virigin with no sexual experience, he’s doing a great fucking job at giving his first rim job. 

Gavin gasps and relaxes into the feeling, bucking his hips and groaning as the android swirls his tongue. His tongue is particularly wet, and Gavin guesses that it must be some kind of weird sexbot feature that makes his saliva into lube or something. It would be weird if it weren’t so fucking hot, so Gavin just lets it happen. He lets Nines lick him, tease him with that perfect artificial tongue. When Nines pulls back, Gavin moans in protest, but he’s cut off when Nines fills the space with one of his fingers instead. 

“Oh,” Gavin groans, rocking backwards into the feeling. “Oh, _fuck._ ” 

“You like that?” Nines asks, his voice crackling with static. 

Gavin doesn’t say anything, but he moans in response. 

Nines slips another finger inside, moving both deeper, spreading them apart and spreading Gavin open. It’s good. It’s really fucking good, and Gavin thinks that he could cum just from this. 

He can’t let Nines know that though, he’d never live it down. He lets Nines finger fuck him, grabing fistfuls of the cotton sheets and rocking into the feeling, moaning but not letting himself get too unhinged. 

“Nines,” he breathes, when he thinks that he’s nearly there. “I’m ready.” 

The android nods, shaking slightly as he pulls his fingers out. There’s something a little off about him, his usual confidence depleted just a little bit. Gavin focuses on it, lets it ground him. This is Gavin’s first time with an android, but it’s Nines’ first time, like, ever. 

“Can you turn over?” Nines asks, a blue hue on his cheeks. “I want to see your face when we… when I…” 

Gavin nods. “Yeah,” he says, and his voice is trembling. “Sure.” 

Nines gets on his knees and Gavin positions himself comfortably against the headboard, pillows propped up under his back. There’s something a lot more real now that they’re facing one another, something about those blue eyes that makes Gavin’s breath catch. Nines comes closer, gaze glue to Gavin in a way that makes him feel vulnerable. 

Nines takes himself in his hand and strokes a few times before lining up. He hesitates a moment before pressing it, and they groan in tandem at the sensation. 

_Fuck, it feels so real._

Gavin stops, pauses just for a minute. 

_No,_ he reminds himself, this _is_ real. _Nines is real_. 

“Nines,” Gavin moans, adjusting to be a little more comfortable. 

“Yes, Detective?” 

“M-move,” he begs, eyes squeezing shut. 

Nines gives an experimental thrust and Gavin slams his head into the wooden headboard. It’s amazing, every single part of it. The feeling, the heat, the pleasure that uncurls in Gavin’s belly at the sounds Nines makes. 

“Say please,” Nines teases, his voice so close. Gavin feels his lips nip at his earlobe and whimpers. 

“Fuck you,” Gavin tries to say, but another sharp thrust takes away all of the bite. 

“I believe you already are.” 

Gavin rocks his hips forward, fucking down onto the android’s cock a little harder. Nines holds him still, pressing him down into the mattress. 

“Fuck,” Gavin cries out, struggling against him. “Fine, fine. Please.” 

“Please, what?” There’s a smirk in his voice that Gavin doesn’t need to open his eyes to see. “Use your words.” 

This motherfucker. 

“Please fuck me,” Gavin says through gritted teeth. 

Nines exhales through his nose, and Gavin feels the hot rush of air on his neck. 

“As you command,” he says. “Detective.” 

Nines fucks him, hard and fast. It’s like he has a magic fucking super power that tells him when to slow down and how to move, like he has x-ray vision that lets him see directly into Gavin’s mind and know when to shift his weight and how hard to push in. For all Gavin knows, he might _actually_ have x-ray vision. 

Gavin doesn’t last long. It turns out that getting fucked by a super-computer with months worth of sexually repressed tension stored inside of him is like, the _best thing ever_. Go figure. He cums with just a few strokes from his own hand, spilling between them and painting both of their bodies in streams of white. He would almost be embarrassed by the noise he makes when he does it, but Nines cums almost immediately after and his voice shakes with static as he does, just like it had back at the crime scene. It’s sort of hot? 

Scratch that. It’s really fucking hot. 

When Nines pulls out, Gavin falls back against the mattress. His head is spinning from the endorphins and he’s just exhausted. Nines sits up at the edge of the bed and watches Gavin carefully, like he’s on edge and afraid of what his next move might be. It takes Gavin a few minutes of euphoric breathing to realize that Nines looks nervous. 

“Hey,” Gavin says, turning to fully face the android. “You okay?”

Nines’ LED burns red and he looks away. There’s something unreadable in his expression. 

“Nines…” 

“I’m fine, Detective.” 

Gavin snorts. “Dude, we just fucked. You can call me Gavin.” 

Nines’ LED blinks, yellow, yellow, red.

Blue. 

“Gavin,” Nines says, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a smile. 

He hesitates still, sitting there at the edge of the bed. It strikes Gavin that this is absolutely Nines’ first time. He’s pretty sure that androids dont really revere sex or hold it to the same like, stupidly emotional standard that a lot of humans do, but it’s still a pretty big deal. Gavin feels honored to have been Nines’ choice for his first time. 

“Hey,” Gavin says again. He moves over on the pillow. “Get over here.” 

For a big scary murder computer, Nines certainly looks soft as hell when he crawls over to Gavin’s arms. It’s weird. Like. Really weird. If you’d told Gavin two weeks ago that he’d be _cuddling_ with Nines in Nines’ apartment, he’d have probably laughed in your face and told you to go get your brain checked. 

But right now? He doesn’t really know, but it feels… nice. Like some itch he’s been aching from has finally been scratched. 

Nines is hot and beautiful and warm where he curls up in Gavin’s arms. Gavin thinks he’ll probably be a little sore in the morning, but right now he’s still riding that high from like, the best sex he’s ever had, so he doesn’t really mind it. 

“I should probably get going,” Gavin sighs, carding his fingers through Nines’ hair. “I’m fucking spent and if I get too comfortable I’m going to pass out in your bed.” 

Nines shifts in his arms, doesn’t meet Gavin’s eyes. “Or you could stay.” 

Gavin’s chest constricts, his hand pauses. “Seriously?” 

“If you want to.” 

Gavin considers it. Would sleeping over complicate things? Are there even things _to_ complicate? Talking about it seems like a lot of fucking work and he’s not really… 

He doesn’t really _do_ relationship talk. He doesn’t think that Nines seems like the type to either. 

But maybe this is fine, just how it is? Gavin still has a lot to learn, but he thinks maybe he could learn it with Nines as his partner. 

“Yeah,” Gavin breathes. He nods. “Yeah, I can stay.” 

Gavin tells himself that it’s just for tonight. 

He tells himself the same thing the next time it happens. And the time after that. And the time after that. He tells himself that this isn’t a _thing_ , and maybe he half-convinces himself that it’s true. 

By the fifth time it happens, Gavin realizes that he’s been keeping a toothbrush in Nines’ bathroom. He holds it in his hands and meet his own eyes in the mirror. 

“Fuck,” he whispers. 

It’s definitely a thing.

* * *

Three months later, they’re assigned a case. A dead android on the side of the road, a rutheless murder, body mangled and left to rot. It doesn’t take more than a glance for Gavin to piece together that whatever monster did this doesn’t see androids as living things. 

It’s hard for Gavin to see the way the android’s body is twisted and left out in the cold. It’s hard because just over two weeks ago he’d have lied to himself about what he was seeing, he’d have pushed down the itch in the back of his brain telling him to see the truth and pretended that the body in front of him was nothing more than damaged property. 

He knows now, though, that he had been so wrong. Maybe in a way he always knew, but it was hard to admit that sort of thing out loud. It’s hard to just… rewire your brain to think differently. To deviate from what you’d always been taught and admit that maybe you’d been wrong this whole time. 

He’s glad that he changed. When Nines comes up behind him and places a hand on the small of Gavin’s back, Gavin looks up to meet his eyes and he knows that the android understands. More than that, he knows that the android might even care about him. 

Hell, the android might even love him. 

And who knows? Maybe Gavin might...

Gavin shakes the thought from his head, and kneels down to examine the body. There’s a chill in the air that sends a shiver down Gavin’s spine, but he thinks that the goosebumps on his arm might have everything to do with the gruesome sight and nothing to do with the weather. The recklessness with which this body was handled is sickening, and Gavin counts exactly 28 stab wounds caked in blue blood before ripping his eyes away and getting up to go get some air. 

The android’s eyes are open and staring at nothing, blue irises so familiar that Gavin is sure they’ll haunt him in his dreams. Gavin became a cop to help people, to try to make a change in the corrupt fucking world that he grew up in. Somewhere along the lines he’d lost sight of that. Somewhere along the lines he’d become exactly the type of cop he promised himself he’d never be. 

Gavin thinks that part of protecting people, part of saving people, also means saving androids. It means fighting for justice for people that the government doesn’t give a fuck about. He doesn’t know if he’d have ever changed his mind if it hadn’t been for his partner. He walks over towards the asphalt, pulling his vape out of his pocket and jamming it into his mouth. 

Fuck. Maybe he does love Nines. Maybe he has for a long time. 

Gavin isn’t paying attention when he steps out onto the road, and he’s too distracted by the vape in his mouth (that’s out of juice again? Fucking seriously?) to notice the eighteen wheeler barreling towards him. He doesn’t notice how close it’s getting until he’s being wrapped in a strong pair of arms and lifted off of the black-top.

The truck zooms by them and narrowly misses taking Nines’ leg off in the process. Gavin stands there, stunned as he gapes at the android that once again saved his life. 

“Holy shit,” Gavin breathes, “fuck, Nines, thanks. I owe you one.” 

Nines smirks, that devilish smile curling on his lips. “I could think of a few ways you could repay me, Detective.” 

He grabs Gavin’s ass and Gavin yelps, stepping backwards so hard that he tumbles down into the ditch. Nines offers a demonic hand with a wicked look in his eyes. _I take it back,_ Gavin thinks as he takes it, _I don’t like him. Not even a little bit. Not even at all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shout out again to SemainsArgevan on insta and twitter! I couldn't have asked for a better partner for this event. Shout out to the mods over at the RBB event as well for all of the support and for running the event. I had so much fun. 
> 
> If you likes this fic, please drop a comment <3 I love receiving feedback on my work. Thank you all so much!


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